ELCINA in association with Add Indl Park (TN)
Ltd and Raaga Mayuri Builders Pvt Ltd has submitted its
initial applications for EMC Grant to DeitY for proposed
cluster at Dist Coimbatore and Dist Ananthpur (Near Bangalore)
respectively. Details of both these clusters are given
below:

-Initial DPR is prepared and submitted to Deity along
with application for Grant under EMS policy

-Land is on NH7 (Bangalore – Hyderabad )

-65 kms from Bangalore International Airport

-35 kms from Puttaparthy; 30 kms from Hindupur

-300 meters Highway facing

Cluster in
Coimbatore district:

Another Greenfield EMC on an area of
approximately 157 acres near Annur Taluk, Coimbatore District
in the state of Tamil Nadu is co-promoted by ELCINA. Out of
the land for this project (approx 157 acres) all except 28
acres has already been procured by AIPL with clear
unencumbered title for the land. The balance 28 acres has been
confirmed for procurement and is under process.

AIPL is in the process of setting up a mega
industrial park near Coimbatore in association with the GoTN.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed by GoTN and AIPL
in the presence of the honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
at Chennai on 05 Nov 2012. Spread over 2500 acres of land, the
park would cater to a wide range of industries to include a
Green- field electronics manufacturing cluster, manufacturing
of engineering goods, textiles, IT/ITES educational
institutions, R&D Centres, housing and other social
infrastructure.

Common
benefits in all ELCINA Cluster

M-SIPS benefits to each investor under (Reimbursement upto
25% of capital expenditure from Central Govt

State Industrial policy benefits

Common facilities and infrastructure

Collaborative efforts to increase productivity

Update on ELCINA’s Bhiwadi Cluster

ELCINA’s first model Electronics Manufacturing
cluster at Bhiwadi (Near New Delhi) has received in-principal
approval from Department of Electronics & IT for grant under
EMC scheme. The final DPR and master plan of this cluster is
in its final stage and will be submitted to Deity very soon.
More than 40% of net saleable area has already been sold to
the investor from 19 companies. For more details about
Bhiwadi Cluster please write to
sanjjeev@elcina.com or call 9910187001;
011-26928053

For more details about ELCINA clusters please
write to us at
yogesh@elcina.com or call 9911445891; 011-26928053

The Department of Electronics and Information
Technology (DeitY), Government of India, has recently carried
out amendments to its Electronics and Information Technology
Goods (requirements for compulsory registration) Order, 2012,
pertaining to customs clearances for samples.

As per the changes, DeitY has removed the
quantity restrictions for samples imported for the purposes of
testing, research and development and demonstration. Hence,
there would be no limit on the number of units being imported
for these purposes.

In May 2013, DeitY had issued the following
exemptions, and regularised these through amendments made in
June and September 2013:

Exemption up to five numbers per model for
testing, R&D and demonstration purposes

Exemption for the highly specialised equipment
(HSE) category, which also lists the criteria for declaring an
electronic product as HSE

DeitY has now stated in its notice that “Highly
specialised equipment (HSE) criteria have been sufficiently
defined, and customs may evolve a process so that the field
officers of customs do not insist on NOC (no objection
certificate) from DeitY for the goods qualifying under these
criteria.”

With effect from December 2013, it has been
decided that DeitY will not issue any NOC letters when any of
the above exemptions are claimed.

However, cases that would demand technical
clarifications beyond the different criteria will have to be
referred to DeitY. But the department would entertain such
requests only from the customs authorities and not directly
from the applicants.

The order has not put any restriction on goods
directly imported by end users for personal use.

Requirements for compulsory registration order
2012

Under the order, DeitY has mandated 15
categories of electronics items under the compulsory
registration scheme of the Department of Consumer Affairs
based on their compliance to Indian safety standards. The
order envisages manufacturers, importers, sellers and
distributors of the notified goods to conform to the specified
standards, and get registration numbers from BIS after testing
the products at BIS-recognised labs.

In 2014, India will be completing phases three
and four of the TV digitisation plan that has been rolled out
by the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This
implies that Indian subscribers need to purchase an additional
75 million set top boxes (STBs) in 2014.

According to
a Business World report, in the first two phases of
digitisation which covered the metros and tier 1 cities,,
around 30 million STBs were sold. But there are only a couple
of makers of STBs in the country and the cost of importing
STBs from abroad has risen sharply with the government
increasing the import duty on set top boxes during the last
Union Budget by five per cent.

China based NationalChip plans to tap this
market. The company is supplying chips to makers like Videocon,
ABS and MyBox. The problem is that India does not possess the
wherewithal for making semiconductor chips. Patrick Dou,
vice-president, Hangzhou NationalChip Science and Technology
says: “Since the semiconductor eco-system is not available in
India, we provide the chip to make STBs in India.”

Pune-based Millenium Semiconductors is
importing the main chip from NationalChip and many other
components from component makers across the world. Patrick Dou
pointed out that unlike in making electronic components, the
chip for STB has to be customised for meeting the needs of
different multi-system operators (MSOs). Thus, the chips are
for specific customers. Even though the Indian market is just
getting STBs for digital TV, Dou pointed to the stage when the
consumer can make use of the cable TV connection to get access
to broadband connectivity. At the moment, this is happening
only in a few pockets in India.

ELCINA Invites Global players interested in
Investing in India to join these Clusters and take benefit of
the policy incentives provided by Govt of India and service to
the growing Indian market. While providing an ideal, trouble
free and supportive environment in the Clusters, ELCINA can
also assist companies in terms of interacting with Government,
preparation of M-SIPS application and finding the partner for
JVs.

ELCINA has launched its dedicated website for
its Manufacturing Clusters.

The 27th edition of ELCINA DIRECTORY OF INDIAN
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY is planned to be brought out in four
months. The tentative date for releasing the Directory on
20/21 February 2014 during EFY Expo 2014.

Member are requested to kindly update their
information so that correct data is printed in the Directory

The government has extended the national
manufacturing policy across the country wherever industry is
able to organise itself into clusters, hoping to address the
crucial issue of land crunch that the sector faces.

Clusters including expansion projects will be
eligible for all benefits available under the national
manufacturing policy, the government has said in a
notification. The policy envisages national investment and
manufacturing zones with a minimum area of 5,000 hectare each,
a condition that is difficult to meet in several states due to
unavailability of suitable land.

Therefore, the government hopes the extension
of the policy will help provide much-needed boost to
manufacturing activity. "Besides the National Investment &
Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) which are envisaged as integrated
industrial townships, the policy is also applicable to
manufacturing industry throughout the country wherever
industry is able to organise itself into clusters and adopt a
model of self-regulation as enunciated in the policy," the
notification said. The
small and medium enterprises in the cluster will get access to
the Technology Acquisition and Development Fund for acquiring
appropriate technologies, which will subsidise technology
acquisition costs up to a maximum of Rs. 20 lakh to acquire
appropriate technologies patented up to a maximum of five
years

Manufacturing, which is considered key to
generating jobs, expanded a measly 1 per cent in 2012-13.
"Since acquisition of land is a major bottleneck for large
projects like NIMZs that require 5,000 hectare, extending
benefits to existing clusters where land has already been
acquired or allotted will help accelerate industrial growth in
these clusters, most of which need significant upgradation in
terms of infrastructure and eco-system," said A Didar Singh,
secretary General of FICCI.

A cluster is a concentration of manufacturing
industry units located within a clearly demarcated
geographical area with the land use notified as such by the
state government. "The rationalisation of rules and
regulations as envisaged under national manufacturing policy
will also be available for clusters other than NIMZs now,
thereby resulting in reduced regulatory burden in these
clusters for manufacturing units.”

For each such cluster, the state government
concerned will constitute a special purpose vehicle which will
be registered as a section 25 company. Clusters with high
growth potential may be identified for strategic interventions
in terms of internal and external infrastructure, regulatory
rationalisation and simplification, skill development and
technology up gradation, the Notification said.

That Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan was the
Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day function just weeks after
the extended visit of Emperor Akihito and his wife to India
underscoring the growing importance of Indo-Japanese ties.
This was reiterated in the joint statement issued by the Prime
Ministers of the two coutnries. Apart from listing out an
array of projects the statement describes at fairly great
length the institutional basis Indo-Japansese strategic
cooperation has acquired.

It is not just India that stands to gain from
stronger strategic ties with japan. So does the rest of the
world, particularly Asia, including China.

It is imperative for New Delhi to articulate
the multilateral benefits of its closer cooperation with
Japan. The gains go far beyond India getting better
infrastructure, Japanese companies finding a market for their
advanced products and services and Asean countries feeling
more secure. The world as a whole will be a more stable place
that allows emerging countries to create shared prosperity,
free from the threat of war and disruption.

The emergence of global value chains face many
challenges but offer various opportunities. Developing and
emerging economies are becoming more and more important in
value chains that means conventional thinking and building
partnerships for world trade bodies.

With changes sweeping over world trade,
especially after the 2008 global meltdown, there is need to
change and challenge conventional understanding and outlook on
economic globalization.

The emergence of international supply chains,
the rise of new forms of regionalism, and growing linkages
between trade in goods and services are being seen as new
challenges for countries that wish to integrate with the
world.

Worried over rising duty refund claims, which
have touched over Rs.5,000 crore, engineering exporters has
sought urgent intervention of the finance ministry. In a
letter to finance minister P Chidambaram, EEPC India said that
the stoppage of duty drawback payments by the customs
authorities from December has impacted production schedules of
exporters.

ELCINA is not aware of any such stoppage of
duty drawback by its Members.

Companies switching businesses or seeking to
offload unsold products can offer discount without having to
pay excise duty on their actual production cost and profit
forgone, but that leeway is not available to those resorting
to predatory pricing for gaining market share, as per new
norms issued by the finance ministry.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC)
has issued a circular directing officials on ways to implement
a Supreme Court judgment that said sale price cannot be the
basis for excise duty if discounts are given to gain market
share. The norms give relief to companies that offer
discounts for other reasons.

Tax officials have to consider the reasons for
sale at a loss, whether such sales are contrary to standard
business practices and whether such sale is leading to erosion
of capital of the company before rejecting the sale price as
the basis for levy of excise duty, say the norms.

Finance minister P Chidambaram has reiterated
that India’s current account deficit (CAD) will be contained
below $50 billion for FY14, and stressed that the fiscal
deficit will be held at 4.7% of gross domestic product for the
year, in spite of it having reaching 93.9% of the full year
target in the first eight months of the fiscal.

“I have reiterated our commitment to contain
fiscal deficit to 4.8% of the GDP in current year and I do so
again. We will then reduce it by 0.6% every year until we
reach the target of 3% in FY17,” Chidambaram said.

ELCINA Members are aware about DeitY’s
ambitious and well-publicized ESDM project.

Major
highlights: Over Rs.65,000 crores investment proposals
received in one year, under Modified Special Incentive Package
Scheme providing attractive incentives for Electronics
Manufacturing over 10 years.

The department of electronics and IT has
initiated the process for setting up two critical cyber
security centers and launching a programme for human resource
development in the emerging field. The cabinet, eight months
ago, had cleared the National Cyber Security policy, which
aims at creating 500,000 cyber security experts in five years.

US-based multinational semiconductor chip-maker
Intel’s Indian arm is aggressive in its plans to lead the
domestic market sales. The firm will be investing over $120
million in the country to consolidate its R&D infrastructure.
Intel India has outlined a clear roadmap to deepen its roots
in the country, introduce new products and leverage the 4,200
plus employee base in the country. Intel India President Kumud
Srinivasan says we are exploring partnering with our
counterparts in Intel China to see how we can leverage the
low-cost manufacturing that they have there. We are looking at
leveraging that supply chain to lower the costs of some of the
products particularly tablets and then introduce them to the
India market.

Intel is
helping India develop its manufacturing sector and find a
win-win situation both for India and Intel. I recently met the
Nasscom president and he mentioned that one could argue that
in the last couple of decades while the IT industry grew by
leaps and bounds, the manufacturing industry, like the
electronics, slipped. And today, we are seeing the impact of
that. People talk about how electronics is going to very soon
surpass oil as a percentage of our imports . Very little of
these everyday components are being manufactured in India
today. That is what we would like to work with the government
and industry forums like Nasscom on and this is how we can
help to revive the electronics segment. We would like to move
some of the supply chain to India since there are various
components like lower and higher-level value-added products.
We can also advise the Indian government in their efforts to
bring silicon manufacturing to the country, given our vast
experience in the segment.

Intel President says PC penetration in the
Indian market continues to be less than 10%, which shows a
huge upside possibility. As we push on digital literacy, we
expect more people to understand the value of PC and through
that drive up the penetration. The market is price sensitive
but we believe what is actually hampering the penetration of
PCs is that the market is not fully appreciating the value of
its usage. Programmes like digital literacy will help address
that. On the mobility end, both tablets and phones are seeing
a spectacular growth, faster than what we expected.

Ms.Srinivasan says we were slow in getting into
mobiles and tablets but today we have very strong roadmaps in
place. In 2014, Intel expects to become an important player in
this segment. We see this year as the turnaround year for our
presence in these markets. When it comes to things like
wearables and Internet of things, it was dominant at the
Consumer Electronics Show in the US this year for Intel and
that is because we do not want to find ourselves in that same
position again when it comes to new trends. When it comes to
wearables, we have put ourselves into a very good position in
terms of processes and devices that will go into the heart of
these devices.

Intel President says when it comes to
manufacturing component devices in India, the role that we
would be playing is where we essentially support a partnership
with the local manufactures like Micromax, Karbonn and Lava
and the government, industry forum to see how we can create a
manufacturing ecosystem in India like the one that has been
created in China. We are talking to everyone as of now since
we are just in the definition phase.

Lenovo's move to acquire IBM's low-end server
business will help the Chinese computer giant's India
operations as server business has higher margins than personal
computers (PC) business. While IBM is one of the top-three
players in the server space in India, Lenovo does not
currently have any presence in the segment in India.

This deal has several financial and commercial
benefits, which our Indian business will also derive," Lenovo
India Managing Director Amar Babu told Business Standard.
"Enterprise has been an area of investment for Lenovo, and
whatever benefits the deal get us globally, will reflect for
us in India also. Globally, we will become the No. 3 player in
the server space, as against No 6 now."

Lenovo has announced it would buy IBM's server
business for $2.3 billion (Rs 14,230 core). The deal includes
System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and
switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXt Scale and
iData Plex servers and associated software, networking and
maintenance operations. Under the arrangement, IBM would
receive $2.07 billion (Rs 12,800 crore) in cash and the
balance in Lenovo stocks.

The deal is likely to help Lenovo diversify its
PC business globally. In 2005, Lenovo had acquired IBM's PC
business, which included the ThinkPad line of PCs. "In the
period since, the companies have continued to collaborate in
many areas," Lenovo said in a release.

IBM will continue to develop and evolve its
Windows and Linux software portfolio for the x 86 platforms,"
the release said. "Lenovo and IBM plan to enter into a
strategic relationship, which will include a global original
equipment manufacturer (OEM) and reseller agreement for sales
of IBM's industry-leading entry and mid-range Storwize disk
storage systems, tape storage systems, general parallel file
system software, Smart Cloud entry offering, and elements of
IBM's system software portfolio, including systems director
and platform computing solutions."

IBM is happy to be rid of low-end server
business. It appears cheap servers were a drag on Big Blue.
Now the company plans to focus on computer hardware with
better profit margins.

Dell, Acer, HCL Info systems, Hewlett-Packard,
Microsoft and Intel are among 17 companies that have shown
interest in developing the next version of the government’s
ambitious low cost tablet Aakash-4, the tender for which close
on January 28. Canada’s Data wind, which supplied the first 1
lakh Aakash tablets in India, too, is competing with other
players, including domestic manufacturers like Micromax, Wish
Tel and ITI.

Mobile phone users could look forward to a
sharp fall in smart phone prices post Microsoft’s acquisition
of Nokia’s devices business, as the larger scale could allow
the combined company to reduce the price of its entry-level
smart devices and help attract users of the cheaper
feature-phones.

In an interview to ET, Microsoft India’s group
director for operator channel, Sharlin Thayil, said the
company hoped to bring down all barriers to the smartphone
segment, which may also lead to a relook at the future of
feature-phones as part of the combined company’s product
portfolio

“As time progresses, as scale goes up, price
points come down. We’ll keep evaluating more and more
consumers to covert to smart phones from feature-phones so
that they are able to use the apps that the company offers on
the Windows-powered devices.

Currently, Nokia’s entry-level Lumia smart
phone is priced around Rs.8,000 – Rs.8,500, while its popular
Asha series phone – which it considers a quasi-smart phone but
the industry considers a feature-phone – comes for around
Rs.5,000. Thayil said that issues such as phasing out the
Asha series phone or replacing its operating system (OS) with
Microsoft’s OS were under review.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. will shortly sign a
bandwidth-sharing agreement with Power Grid Corporation of
India to boost telecom connectivity across the Northeast, says
a telecom department note.

Power Grid, the state-run power transmission
utility, operates an overhead optic fibre network using its
power-transmission infrastructure. Power Grid will provide
400 gigabit per second of bandwidth to state-run BSNL for
building a network path to improve connectivity in places
close to the Chinese and Bangladesh borders.

The bandwidth sharing pact is a cost-optimisation
move “aimed at preventing duplication of resources with
central public sector enterprises, the Telecom Department
Note.

Consumer goods companies upped their media
spends on the mobile platform in the past one year as smart
phone penetration, coupled with a spurt in data usage, grew
exponentially in the country. InMobi, a mobile advertising
network, said spends by FMCG companies, which are clubbed as
traditional advertisers, grew 175% on its network last year.
Similarly, Vserv.mobi, another mobile ad network, registered a
300% increase in ad dollars while Vuclip, a mobile-focused
aggregator of video content, saw its FMCG clients double their
ad spends in 2013.

In India, FMCG saw a high uptake in the last
two quarters of 2013, as five major advertisers including ITC,
Reckitt Benckiser, HUL, Modelez and Nestle ran more than 30
campaigns at a reasonably good scale as opposed to 2012 where
only one consumer goods company utilized mobile effectively,
said Dippak Khurana, CEWO & co-founder of Vserv.mobi.

Leaders from the Information Technology (IT)
and telecom sectors confided to Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)’s prime ministerial candidate, that poor
broadband penetration was a major impediment in their growth.
They told Modi increasing broadband penetration should be
first on his agenda. Modi met industry leaders at a
closed-door meeting.

Apart from broadband, the Gujarat chief
minister was also apprised by the industry of their concerns
over the slowing economy and the challenge the country faced
in training a majority unskilled workforce.

They appeared impressed by Modi. They said he
heard them out but didn’t provide any immediate answers.
Instead, he asked the participants to give a White Paper based
on their recommendations. These would be considered for the
party’s manifesto, BJP sources said.

Modi said the IT revolution had changed the
world’s attitude towards India. He, however, added that the
IT and telecom sectors were hit hard because of the alleged
corruption surrounding the auction of 2G telecommunication
licenses.

As more and more people spend supplementary
time on their handsets, their appetite for content, quality
and the speed at which it is delivered is growing
exponentially. According to IDC, the next few years will see
rapid growth in not only in smart phones but also these
segments which are in a nascent stage today. In the handset
section, the smart phones are predicted to drive 90% of the
market. The major part of the pie, as high as 57%, will be
driven by the smart devices and bring-your-own-device (BYOD)
is poised to represent 37.2% of the total global workforce.

We are seeing a significant change in the way
people are working. With the consumerisation of enterprise
mobility, a growing percentage of workers are using their
personal devices to access corporate resources. There is a
need to work from anywhere, anytime over any media and over
any device, namely BYOD. While 2012-13 was considered to be a
rolling stone for the widespread use of BYOD, 2014-15 ought to
mark its proliferation as there is an increasing acceptance
and evidence of the fact that BYOD can drive better work
efficiencies.

The Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), which
has a corpus of Rs.80 crore, will provide 80,000 skilled
workers to meet the demands of the sector by the end of the
year.

TSSC has assured providing 5 million skilled
workers for the telecom sector by 2022, MF Farooqui, secretary
of communications, said. TSSC has already developed the
National Occupational Standards (NOS), for 25 job roles, which
lay emphasis on the key duties that a candidate has to perform
on the job.

The initiative will provide stimulus and
resources to telecom service providers, handset manufacturers,
network management service providers, passive and active
infrastructure providers, technology and equipment
manufacturers, back-office support, including business process
outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO),
covering the entire range of the telecom sector under one
umbrella of skill development.

TSSC, which is an industry-led apex body,
jointly set up by the Cellular Operators Association of India
(COAI), Indian Cellular Association (ICA) and Telecom Centers
of Excellence (TCOE), is tasked with ensuring adequate
availability of skilled workers to boost growth and
productivity in the telecom sector.

A TV set top box (STB) made in India is dearer
by about the cost of a small Domino's margarita pizza compared
to an imported box from China. In a market that is fast
shifting from cable TV to direct-to home satellite TV, the
number of STBs needed is huge - about 75 million of the boxes
that help decode satellite signals and display content on TV
screens would be needed over the next few years That's a
large enough market to manufacture them locally. A few
factories do just that but they can't compete with the
imported boxes on price, and satellite TV service providers
prefer to install the ones from overseas.

Across the electronics product manufacturing
landscape, the tale is similar: imported gadgets, from mobile
phones to tablets to gaming consoles et al, cost lower to
import than to make in India. So what then is the need to set
up a factory that can build the whole product from scratch? At
best local businesses set up an assembly line for imported
components - which is the closest India comes to electronics
manufacturing.

Even that assembly line operation is limited -
just five million out of the eight million flat TVs sold in
India are made (read assembled) locally. Similarly less than
10 million STBs are made here, compared to a demand that is
likely to be more than seven fold of that in the next three to
four years. For other products like mobile phones there are
manufacturing units, but it's usually low-end. Apart from
catering to local demand, manufacturing will help in creating
jobs, demonstrate the country’s prowess in electronics
manufacturing (India can launch a rocket to Mars, but can it
make a computer mouse?) and check leakage of valuable foreign
exchange.

The rising consumption of electronics products
is pushing the government to accelerate efforts to make
gadgets and gizmos locally. Says J Satyanarayana, secretary,
department of electronics and information technology: "2014
should be called as a year of Made in India." He quickly adds:
"Wishful thinking will not take us anywhere. We need to
prioritize efforts. We will focus on manufacturing 25
top-selling electronic products in the country."

These include the top 20 products sold in India currently
(which according to a Frost & Sullivan report account for 80%
of the total value of the electronics) and another five
products that will be big purchase items by 2015. The laundry
list spans mobile phones, digital cameras and smart cards.

About 65% of the current demand for electronics
($57 billion in 2014) is met by imports; in the 25 products
identified it's close to 70%. So a computer which might be
'made in India' is actually assembled in India with components
like hard disks, chips, memory, graphics card, monitor
imported from China, Taiwan, Malaysia or Vietnam.

Whilst an STB is made by a few local vendors including
Videocon and MyBox Technologies, the manufacturers rely on
imports for components that go into the box, like Integrated
circuits. Says, MyBox Technologies: "We have localized 35% of
the STB, while rest of the components are imported and
assembled here." Similarly, for flat TVs, the local value-add
(or components sourced locally) is 25% while the rest of the
components are imported.

India makes the motherboard, transformer, power
connectors, plastics that go into the TV but not the LCD or
LED panel or the chips. Says Suresh Khanna, secretary general
of the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers
Association (CEAMA): "Panels are high-tech and comprise 45% of
the cost of the TV. Companies are not willing to set up
panel-making plants as this is high investment and technology
changes fast. Importing makes more sense and as a result the
Chinese economy is thriving on Indian demand.”

The annual demand for flat TVs is 8 million
units growing at 20% a year. Imported sets are cheaper; till
mid-2013 buyers could import without duty and about one
million per year were coming via this route. "This has stopped
and has given an incentive for local makers, yet lot more
needs to be done.”

Experts argue
that while manufacturing in India is competitive and costs
compare well with other Asian markets, it's the taxes and
levies that make the final product unviable locally. So an STB
made in India (that costs about Rs 1,200) attracts a 12% VAT,
making it dearer than an imported one. The imported box does
not have to pay duty and importers (the DTH service providers)
don't pay VAT as the product is not sold to users, but leased.
Besides, the cost of finance in India is 11-12%, compared to
5% in China, Taiwan or Thailand.

Says Ganesh Ramamurthy, research director,
Gartner India: "China can undercut on costs dramatically,
making its landed product cheaper than a locally made one."
Besides the taxation structure, manufacturers blame policies
for lack of an ecosystem. "Back in the 1990s India was strong
in manufacturing. TV sets were made in India. Then services
took over and manufacturing took a backseat." India later
signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries like
Thailand and Malaysia as a result of which locally-made
products became more expensive than imported ones (due to nil
or low levies on imports) and this led to an erosion of
manufacturing in India.

IT secretary Satyanarayana believes
manufacturing products that have high volumes can help create
the ecosystem faster. He cites the case of Akash 4, a low-cost
(about Rs. 2,500) tablet for the masses that is in the works.
"The market for tablets is growing at more than 100% a year
and it will be sad to import them all."

Ironically, many of the gadgets sold globally
are designed in India in more than 100 design labs. Based on
those designs contract manufacturers in China, Taiwan,
Malaysia and Vietnam make products that are shipped to India
and elsewhere. Perhaps it's time for some of India's biggest
conglomerates that have the financial muscle needed to set up
electronics factories with size and scale to put their hands
up.

Six state-owned firms, including BHEL and Power
Grid Corporation have signed an initial agreement for setting
up the world’s largest ultra-mega solar power project in
Rajasthan.

As per the pact, the 4,000 MW solar plant will
be set up in phases near Sambhar lake in the state with a
total investment of Rs.30,000 crore. The power generated will
be available on the grid to meet the needs of various states.
“The MoU has paved the way for setting up this project. Work
will start soon after the agreement is ratified by the
cabinet,” minister for heavy industries and public enterprises
Praful Patel said at the pact signing ceremony.

The future of
renewable energy utilisation in India is indeed ‘sunny’ as six
state-owned companies have come together to set up the world’s
largest single-location 4,000-MW ultra mega solar power
project in Rajasthan. The joint venture company will be
provided equity participation from BHEL, Solar Energy
Corporation of India, Sambhar Salt Ltd, Power Grid, Satluj Jal
Vidyut Nigam and Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments.

The PSUs recently inked MoUs for the same. The
project was born in August last year, and took a period of
five months to come to the MoU stage. “The memorandum of
understanding (MOU) signed,will need to get the approval of
the Cabinet,” minister of heavy industries and public
enterprises Praful Patel was quoted by PTI as saying. To talk
of specifics: the JV firm will have equity participation of 26
per cent from BHEL, 23 per cent from SECI, 16 per cent from
SSL, 16 per cent from Power Grid, 16 per cent from SJVNL while
the remaining 3 per cent will come from REIL.

The project will come up on 19,000 acre of
surplus land available with SSL in Sambhar, Rajasthan and will
require an investment of Rs 75000 million in the first phase.
The equipment will be supplied by BHEL, power evacuation by
Power Grid, sale of electricity by SECI, operation &
maintenance by REIL and project management by SJVNL. The
department of heavy industry would set up a special purpose
vehicle for executing the project.

Further, the project will be developed in
different phases in 7-8 years, of which the first phase is
planned to be set up in about 3 years. The same will be a
1,000 MW project while the remaining will come up in
subsequent phases. The plant will employ photo-voltaic modules
based on crystalline silicon technology and will come with an
estimated life of 25 years.

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
has brought out data on solar plant performance in December
2013. The figure include the nation’s first concentrating
solar power (CSP) plant under the National Solar Mission,
along with solar photovoltaic (PV) plants. Godawari Green
Energy Ltd.’s (Chhatisgarh, India) 50 MW CSP plant has only
reported a 9.99% capacity utilization factor (CUF) over the
month.

According to solarserver.com, CUFs for PV
plants have seen a low decline from highs in September 2013.
The NSM Phase 1 plants have reported 16–22% CUFs Plants
starting under both batch 1 and batch 2 of phase 1 of the
National Solar Mission came in at 16–22 per cent, with three
outliers, two of which were over the range of 23.71 per cent
and 23.95 per cent. Same as in last months, the batch 2
projects have shown slightly higher performances. The nine
Migration Scheme projects have once again shown trouble with
four at 20–23 per cent. The other three reported CUFs of 10–14
per cent, with no data from two. One of the three
low-performing plants have reported a 18.67 per cent CUF in
November 2013.

The rooftop and Small Solar Power Generation
Program (RPSSGP) plants have mainly reported CUFs in the
11–22% range, with three of the 46 reporting 9–10 pr CUFs.

A transducer is a device that converts a signal
in one form of energy to another form like electrical,
mechanical, electromagnetic (including light), chemical,
acoustic or thermal energy. While the term ‘transducer’
commonly implies the use of a sensor or detector, any device
which converts energy can be considered a transducer. A
sensor, on the other hand, is used to detect a parameter in
one form and report it in another form of energy, often an
electrical signal. There are many types of sensors like
temperature, pressure, level, proximity and displacement
sensors.

In this section, we feature some sensors and
transducers that were launched in the last six months.
However, companies like Murata, Analog Devices,
STMicroelectronics and Freescale Semiconductor have not
launched any of the featured products during this period.

Launched in
August 2013, the dual-axis RFS mechanical tilt sensor (MTS) is
a simple-to-install in-line device, which enables customers to
accurately measure the position of its antennae in real-time
without physically having to check the placement on site.

Binay Opto Electronics launched the 70-CDM
power LED downlighter that is designed as a practical
light-equivalent replacement for a 70W CDMT (ceramic discharge
metal-halide lamp) fitting. With a system power consumption of
around 30-35W, this product consumes less than half the power
of the CDMT lamp. It has a high colour rendering index of 85
(typical). Available with various options of beam angles, the
product is able to form a sharp spot for well-defined
illumination. Several colour temperature (CCT) options (such
as 3000K, 4000K and 6500K) are available. Other advantages
include instant start-on, no infrared or radiated heat output,
shock-proof and solid-state construction.

In November
2013, GlacialPower launched two LED drivers for constant
voltage (CV) and constant current (CC) LED lights—GP-RS26P and
GP-RS35P, which are available in several options ranging from
9V DC to 57V DC. The drivers are also available with a 3-in-1
dimming (1-10V/PWM/resistor) function. Both the drivers are
ideal for any indoor LED lighting solution, as the robust
IP67-approved plastic housing protects the drivers from dust
or water damage such as rusting. In addition, the double
insulated wiring design ensures that if the wire is externally
pulled, the strain relief bushing to the circuit board will
not be exposed, preventing possible electricity leakage.
GP-RS26P LED drivers deliver up to 25.2 W, while GP-RS35P LED
drivers give up to 36 W of power.

GSR Infocom launched an LED slim panel
downlight. This product uses an SMD power LED as the light
source and can discharge heat rapidly into the atmosphere.
This technology can help to lower the temperature of the spot
light, reduce the deterioration of the LED, and improve the
lifetime of the lamps (life span >40,000 hours). Its features
include ultra-thin design conception with just 14mm thickness;
it saves energy up to 50-70 per cent, has a high efficiency
heat protection system and is driven by a constant current
power supply with input AC90V to 265V. Other features are an
instant start, no flickering, no humming, green environment
protection and no RF interference. The company claims that the
product has the highest lumens amongst other similar products
available in the market.

A Research Report
on the ‘Landscape of Opportunities & Challenges in Strategic
Electronics” has been prepared jointly by ELCINA and ISA was
released by the Hon’ble Minister Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju, MoS,
Defence. The research paper gives the details of the current
opportunities on the Indian Strategic Electronics (ISE), Govt
Policy & procurement procedures, landscape of Capabilities,
Business Areas, Certification & Licenses, Aspirations & Goals
of ISE Companies, IPR & Technology Safety Mechanisms, Focus
Areas for the Industry to look for, Dept. of Electronics & IT
Initiatives to boost growth of Electronics Industry in India
and Recommendations for greater value additions in the
country.

ELCOMOS is a most comprehensive
study of electronic components and equipment industry
conducted in recent years and attempts to bridge a huge
information gap which has plagued the growth of this segment.
Electronic components are the building blocks for this
industry. A strong electronic component manufacturing base
requires high capital investments and a supportive eco-system. ELCOMOS Report has endeavoured to build a comprehensive
database on existing indigenous production of electronic
components
and hardware manufacturing value chain in India.

The Study also assesses the size
and trends in Output and the Market for electronic components
and assemblies as well as equipment by various sectors; it
estimates the demand-supply scenario within the country
vis-à-vis imports and exports and attempts to identify the
future drivers and enablers for the industry.

The ELCINA DIRECTORY OF INDIAN
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY 2013 was released on 22nd February 2013
during EFY Expo at Pragati Maidan by Mr Ajay Shankar, IAS,
Member Secretary, NMCC.. The new Directory contains key
industry production and market data in addition to the other
regular sections. This is a handy compendium with easy-to-read
format, available in Print & CD Version.

Continuing its efforts to
establish an extensive source of knowledge to serve Indian
Engineering and Electronics Industry and cultivate a
manufacturing culture in the country, ELCINA-Centre for
Knowledge Management (CKM), since its launch in 2008, has been
conducting various workshops on a variety of topics of
interest to the satisfaction of the industry with focus on
quality improvement and enhancing competitiveness. It has also
been organizing In-house training workshops in companies for
the benefit of the industry and the number of workshops is
growing every year.

The following Conference
Facilities are available in ELCINA House for holding
conferences/workshops/meetings etc:-

Hall

Seating
Capacity

Hotline Auditorium (1st Floor)

60 people

BSM Meeting Room (Basement)

25 people

ELCINA Board Room (Ground Floor)

15 people

All the above facilities are
available with full power back-up (including air conditioning)
with all modern equipments like LCD Projector/Screen, Internet
through Wi-Fi, Audio Systems, Collar/Cordless mikes etc..
Beverages/Lunch/Dinner can also be organized on request.
For details and booking, please contact Mr. V.K. Vadhwa in
ELCINA House (Tel – 011-26928050, 26924597, email –
vijay@elcina.com)

The 'OSRAM DISPLAY CENTRE'
in ELCINA House is a permanent Display Centre and serves to
showcase the Indian electronics industry to visitors. The
Display Centre has now 15 Full Stalls and 4 Half/Mini Stalls,
presently occupied by the following Member-companies.

Full Stalls

Bharat Electronics Ltd,
Bangalore

EPCOS India Pvt Ltd, Bangalore

Vishay Components India Pvt Ltd,
Pune

Teknik Electromeconic Pvt Ltd,
Bangalore

SGS Tekniks Manufacturing Pvt
Ltd, Gurgaon

Samtel Group, New Delhi

Deki Electronics Ltd, Noida

Victor Component Systems Pvt
Ltd, New Delhi

Osram India, Bangalore

Elin Electronics Ltd, New
Delhi

Bhagyashree Industries,
Secunderabad

Half/Mini Stalls

Cosonic
Components Pvt Ltd, Chennai

Servel (India)
Pvt Ltd, New Delhi

CTR
Manufacturing Industries Ltd, Aurangabad

A few Full and Half/Mini Stalls are vacant at present and
members interested may kindly contact ELCINA House, New Delhi
(saly@elcina.com) for booking the same

Terms and
conditions for booking of stalls:-

Manufacturing &
Service Member-companies of ELCINA are eligible to display
their products

Flexible shelves
are provided inside the stalls. Modification in
fixtures of the basic structure will not be possible as it
runs counter to uniformity.

Lockable Storage
space will be provided below the stall for
brochures/publicity materials etc.

Audio Visual
clip/Power Point presentation will be displayed for the
visitors on LCD Panel installed in the Display Area.

The rental
charges for the Stalls for two years – FULL Stall
(Rs.20,000/-) and HALF/MINI Stall (Rs.12,000) + Service
Tax (12.26%), as per govt rules.

ELCINA Board Room is suitable for for senior
executive and board meetings. The Board Room can accommodate
15 persons on the main table with a supplementary seating for
10 persons

(c) Conference Room

Conference Room can accommodate 25 persons in Class room
seating style. This room is ideal for training sessions &
corporate meetings with complete audio visual facilities .
Seating arrangement is flexible and can be arranged as per the
requirement.

Companies committed to electronic
hardware manufacturing with substantial value addition
through production of components, subassemblies, parts,
capital goods/machinery for manufacturing of electronics
hardware, EMS providers, service providers such as
quality/product testing as well as companies designing
components and subassemblies are eligible for
membership. Equipment companies from all segments of
electronics (i.e., Consumer, Telecom, IT, Defence,
Industrial, Medical and Automobiles) are welcome to join
ELCINA membership once they commence manufacturing,
assembling or designing activities in the country.

A newsletter published by
ELCINA, New Delhi. The information contained in this newsletter is
for private circulation only. Despite our best efforts, some errors
could have crept in. You are advised to verify authenticity of the
information before further use.